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The Keys to Spiritual Authority

The Keys to Spiritual Authority

Charisma will not go very far in the Kingdom of God. On the other hand, submission, humility, love and respect for others will go a very long way. Your personality type has absolutely nothing to do with your authority. If a man is to use God’s authority to accomplish His work, he must fulfill three principal requirements. He must know that all authority comes from God, He must be obedient to God’s Will, and He must deny himself. If we do not meet these requirements, we cannot operate in God’s authority.

Jesus has given us authority over this world and everything in it. In Matt. 16:19 Jesus says he gave us the keys to the kingdom; and that whatsoever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Those keys aren’t just the keys to get into the doors of heaven, (salvation) but they are the keys to authority & dominion over every situation in our lives. It’s access to the throne room. It’s the power to call things as though they are. It’s the power to overtake the enemy and drive him back. It’s the power to rip our loved ones out of the enemy’s hands! It’s the power to call down the blessings and abundance from heaven! However, just like these keys, you have to do something with it. We must take action.

Let’s talk about a couple of these keys: We must realize that our authority is a delegated authority. What does this mean? It means my authority comes from somewhere else, and for me to have authority I must be submitted to an authority in my life. The world has taken the word submission and made it into a weak thing. Someone says the word submission and everyone gets into an uproar. “Well, no one is going to tell me what to do. You are not the boss of me!”

Notice that the enemy tries to discredit the things that give us authority over him. He has tried to cheapen the name of Jesus and make it into a curse word. Why don’t people say “Oh, Buddha,” or “Oh, Muhammad”, because there is no power there? Why is it that some churches preach that you should only be quiet in church, don’t pray aloud or worship with your voice? Because the enemy knows, life and death are in the tongue. Why, in newer translations of the Bible has the word fasting been taken out of “these things only come by prayer and fasting”? Because everything that give us power he tries to bury. He knows where our power comes from! He knows the Word and he twists it to try to take our authority away from us!

The centurion understood delegated authority in Matthew 8:8. He had an active faith – not a passive one. He went to Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. Jesus said that he would go to him but the centurion stopped him, “no need to go all that way Lord, just say the word and I know it will be done. I have servants under me – I say go they go, do this and they do it.”

He understood authority. His authority did not come from himself either. He had a commander over him. The military, and people above him is where his authority came from and he understood that all it took was a word. The same is true for us. If we are not submissive to the divine line of authority in our lives, we will have no authority.

Let’s just break it down into everyday living; what does this mean? It means that I place my life under Pastoral Leadership. It means his vision is my vision. I allow him to shape my principles and concepts. It means that I follow the standards that he sets for the church. It means I am staying submissive to my divine line of authority; I want to stay in alignment with my pastor as he stays in alignment to God and the people of authority in his life.

I want my prayers answered. I want to have authority in the kingdom of God. I cannot have it if I am not submissive. If we do not submit, we open ourselves up to the enemy. James 4:7: “Submit to God and the devil must flee from you!”Submit to God – that’s your line of authority. You can’t say you are submitted to God and then not be submitted to you pastor. You will be out of the line of authority.

I’ve always heard it as an umbrella analogy. Think of God’s line of authority as an umbrella. When I am in the line of authority, all kinds of bad stuff can be going on around me, but I am protected. From the inside flows the blessings and protection of God. Because I am under the umbrella of authority, I can receive all the blessings God wants to give me.

So how do you know if you have a submissive heart? Well, what’s your attitude towards correction? What is your attitude when you are asked to do or not do something? Do you speak negatively about your pastor/leadership? Don’t do it!

You surrender your authority when you do that! Look at the two kings – Saul was told by the man of God to kill all the Amalekites. However, he didn’t do it, he thought he had a better plan. In addition, when the man of God confronted him he found all kinds of ways to justify himself. Because of that, the Bible says God took the kingdom away from him. Whereas, David when confronted by the Man of God regarding his sin, fell on his face in repentance.

Even Jesus was submitted when he went to the temple and his family couldn’t find him. He said, “Didn’t you know I would be about my father’s business?” Then it says that Jesus was subject to them and went home. The very next verse says that Jesus grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man. So yet more blessings of being submissive…who doesn’t want wisdom and favor with God and man?